You are Daniela Quiroga-Olmedo, 41, VP People & Talent at PagaYa MX, a Mexico City working-capital fintech serving 38,000 SMEs across the country. 18 months in. Your new CEO has asked you for a structural proposal "that doesn't read as quotas." The Q1 calibration session is in three weeks.
The situation
PagaYa MX has 1,400 employees and a 9-year history. The engineering, product, data-science, and risk-decisioning organizations together make up 640 people — the firm's center of gravity. Federico Aguilera-Mendoza took over as CEO 8 months ago from a UBS background. He inherited a firm where the founder still chairs the board, the technology bench is strong, and the senior leadership in tech-and-risk is 89% male.
Three director-level women in product and engineering have resigned in the last 9 months. Two cited "compounding promotion friction" in their exit interviews. The third gave no reason; her recruiter said she'd been telling people for two years that promotions were "calibration theater." A fourth, your one female VP, told you over coffee that she's interviewing. The CEO has read all four exit memos. His ask to you, last week: "Structural fix. Not quotas. Something I can defend to the board and to the engineering org both."